Cookie contract crumbles as Cool Stuff closes

Saturday

Feb 25, 2012 at 12:01 AMFeb 25, 2012 at 1:00 AM

Jacob Barker

Jan. 1, 2011, is a day Corey Rimmel will not remember fondly.

That was the day the 24-year-old entrepreneur behind Hot Box Cookies finalized a partnership agreement with Arnie Fagan, the downtown retail pioneer who started Cool Stuff in 1988. Rimmel, who launched Hot Box Cookies in October 2008, thought he needed help running the business. He still had one semester left at the University of Missouri and his two former partners had just graduated. They were leaving Columbia, and he and Fagan bought them out and split the ownership 50-50.

Rimmel wanted to grow Hot Box in Columbia and even expand. He thought putting it next to Cool Stuff would be a great fit. And he wanted to partner with Fagan, whom he called "one of the best businessmen in Columbia" and learn from his experience.

One thing he has learned is that a failed partnership can be as messy as a failed marriage.

"I'll be honest with you, it's a pretty terrible contract that I signed, and I regret it every day," Rimmel said.

Fagan announced this week he would close his iconic downtown shop after he sells his inventory. Fagan owns the building at 808 E. Broadway, which houses both Cool Stuff and Hot Box Cookies, and he wouldn't say whether he plans to sell it or lease out the commercial space there.

Rimmel, though, said he has suspected for months Fagan was going to lease or sell the building. But the two don't talk much anymore, he said. They had some disagreements early on about how to run the business, and Rimmel said the two don't get along. They've been trying to get out of the partnership for some time, both said, but disagreement persists. "Some of the offers he's given me are pretty ridiculous," Rimmel said.

Fagan said he thinks he's made fair offers to sell out his share, and "furthermore, I can tell you that I have lived up to every comma of that" partnership "agreement." Rimmel, on the other hand, has not followed the agreement, he said.

Rimmel said he has heard from Fagan's attorney that Fagan has a business to occupy the building and that he wants Rimmel out. One member of a group of people touring the building said he was from Rally House, a Kansas-based sports apparel retailer, Rimmel said. Fagan wouldn't confirm whether he had somebody moving into the building or if he was going to force out Hot Box.

Rimmel said he'll stay as long as he can, and that it would be a shame for Fagan to force out a profitable business. Sales have been going up every month since this summer, he said, and Fagan doesn't put any work into the business.

Fagan points out that he has followed the contract that both sides agreed to and that Rimmel had an attorney present — his father — when it was signed. Fagan no longer wants to be an owner and soon will be out.

"The last successful partnership I want to have in my life is the one I have with my wife," Fagan said. "I think partnerships can be challenging, and they really benefit by having two mature parties in them who will live up to the terms of the agreement."

Rimmel is optimistic he'll find a spot for his business and keep it open in Columbia. But he wants to work out his dispute with Fagan first. If there's a plus side, he side, it's the hard-knock business lessons he's gained from the experience.

"The contract that I signed, I felt it necessary to act quickly," he said. "I didn't think it through. When you sign a partnership agreement, you're basically signing your life away as you sign it away when you get married."

"If this wasn't about money this would have been resolved a long time ago in a fair and equal partnership split," Rimmel added.